Canadian world champion Miranda Miller of Garibaldi, BC, finished eighth in the Elite women’s race on Saturday at Round 6 of the Downhill World Cup in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec. Miller was the only Canadian woman to qualify for the Final, finishing 45.611 seconds behind Rachel Atherton of Great Britain, the World Cup leader. Miller moved to 14th in the overall standings, with one round of competition remaining.
In the Elite men’s competition, two Canadian men finished in the top-25, with Mark Wallace of Duncan, BC, finishing 13th and Finn Iles of Whistler, BC, 25th. Wallace’s time of four minutes and 21.033 seconds, was 8.32 seconds behind race winner Loic Bruni of France, the reigning world champion. Wallace jumped one spot in the overall standings, to 12th place, with Iles dropping to 13th.
In the Junior categories, Valentina Holl of Austria won her sixth consecutive women’s race, with the only Canadian entrant, Piper Allman, finishing fourth. The men’s race went to France’s Thibaut Daprela, his third in a row and fourth for the season. Top Canadian finisher was Elliot Jamieson in sixth place.
In the Cross-country competition Canadian champion Emily Batty of Brooklin, Ontario, flew the Canadian colours at home on Sunday, with a third place finish in the Elite women’s cross-country Mountain Bike World Cup in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec. This was Batty’s fourth podium in six races, and moved her up from eighth to fourth in the standings with one race remaining in the series.
Batty overcame a poor start to move up to eighth by the end of the first lap and fourth by the end of the second in the six lap race. She moved into third place on the fifth lap and came within 14 seconds of catching second place Annika Langvad of Denmark. The race was won by world champion Jolanda Neff of Switzerland.
Showing the depth of the Canadian women’s field, Haley Smith of Uxbridge, Ontario, had her best result ever at a World Cup, finishing eighth, while four-time Mont-Ste-Anne winner Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, BC, was 16th in her first race back from suffering an injury in June.
“I love racing here,” said Batty. “The energy from the Canadian fans is so empowering. I didn’t have a good first lap, so it was just a matter of trying to get by as many people as I could; climbing the climbs as hard as I could, and not making mistakes in the singletrack. I was giving everything I could to catch Annika, but I just came up a little bit short. I’m really proud to get Canada in the top three spots.”
In other Canadian results, Canadian Under-23 men’s champion Sean Fincham of Squamish, BC, finished eighth in the Under-23 men’s race, while Raphael Gagne of Quebec City was the top Canadian in the Elite men, finishing 25th.
Full results: https://bit.ly/2nxXwv3
Source: Cycling Canada
About Cycling Canada
Cycling Canada is the governing body for competitive cycling in Canada. Founded in 1882, Cycling Canada aims to create and sustain an effective system that develops talented Canadian cyclists to achieve Olympic, Paralympic, and World Championship medal performances. With the vision of being a leading competitive cycling nation by 2020 celebrating enhanced international success, increased national participation and world class event hosting, Cycling Canada manages the High Performance team, hosts national and international events and administers programs to promote and grow cycling across the country. Cycling Canada programs are made possible through the support of its valued corporate partners – Global Relay, Lexus Canada, Mattamy Homes, Louis Garneau, lululemon, 4iiii, Argon18 and Bear Mountain Resort – along with the Government of Canada, Own The Podium, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.